The present invention relates generally to a system and method for obtaining and validating data across a communications network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a social networking system and method for harnessing creative or otherwise intellectual input from a variety of sources and further directly validating the resulting data. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a social networking system and method for receiving materials such as for example copyrightable works, validating details associated with the materials, and life cycle management of the materials and details.
People who wish to obtain permission to use a protected copyrighted work of one kind or another find themselves in a maze of complex, risky and time consuming legal and administrative tasks. In many cases the task is too daunting for potential users having limited budget or with limited time to navigate these tasks, and such works go unused to the detriment of the potential end user, the creator and the owner of the work. In some cases, the work is used without all owners granting permission due to pending ownership disputes or missing information, which results in no payment from the source, or one owner receiving payment on behalf of all owners. Under these scenarios the unpaid owners are left to discover for themselves that a use occurred and to then collect from a potential adversarial co-owner, creating significant delays and the potential for no payment of royalties to the co-owners and the creators of the work. In other cases where the work is used without obtaining permission due to the logistical difficulties, lengthy and expensive litigation may well result, again a less than optimal result for all parties involved.
The Internet has spawned an ever-increasing number of new works that are digitally available. The unlimited virtual shelf space for such works in the digital world means that the market has the ability to create and publish works that far exceeds the volume of products created for mass commercialization in the traditional market. Further, the various potential commercial uses for these works have just begun to surface. However, the methods for registering these works, permitting access, documenting ownership, and obtaining permission for their use have fallen exponentially behind, and the current market infrastructure and processes cannot accommodate this growth and new demand for digital works.
The Library of Congress manages the predominant system in the United States that was created for registering works of authors and subsequent assignments of rights to others. Registration provides protection in the form of financial awards if infringement occurs, proof of the date of creation. Both were established to promote the advancement of new ideas and technology by encouraging creators to make their ideas public. However, the methods used in the registration process were not designed to optimize the commercialization of a work. Its purpose was to offer protection and a court based dispute resolution process.
Copyright ownership information is currently spread across the globe in literally thousands of disparate databases. These databases and the companies that have created them did so to address specific problems for specific types of rights. Some examples include those that operate under government consent decree to license and collect royalties for performance rights from radio and television stations, or those that operate under the rigid guidelines of the FCC because of the limited number of frequencies available. The Internet by contrast has no such limits, and the number of potential licensing sources that must be navigated is staggering. None of these prior databases are capable of accommodating automated, high volume, small fee transactions due in part to the cost of registering and maintaining a database of this information, and further most of the works on the Internet are not affiliated with the associated systems.
The disparate databases are further problematic in that some still require paper to communicate submissions to their databases and all still require paper documentation to communicate changes in ownership. This documentation then requires a review and manual data entry to make the changes. A single work may have to undergo this process for each of the creators and/or business partners in the supply chain, assuming all the relevant parties can even be identified or located. The estimated computer hardware, software and labor costs can be daunting under the circumstances.
The database problems are even further complicated by the unmet need for continuous lifecycle ownership management. A work moves through various stages as it progresses from creation to its later stages, and the business transactions and life changes of its creators impact the ownership and royalty participant information. As one example, in the creation stage two creators wish to collaborate on a work of one of the creators, either changing the ownership of the original work or establishing a new work. Further, many common life events such as death, divorce or business agreements have tremendous effect on ownership of the work and its associated royalties. The current available systems for documenting ownership transfers and communicating changes to all interested parties in a work, do not provide a cost effective or time efficient method for managing these processes.
Therefore, a number of needs in the digital world exist that are quite simply unmet by the current system. Creators and interested parties to copyrighted works and their consumers need to be able to find each other and collaborate more effectively.